Self Film Study
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To improve your techniques, film yourself. You or your coach will never catch certain issues unless you rewatch them in slow-mo.
Often when we see a fluke injury in a prizefight, you can only catch what happened after several rewatches and in slow motion. But that's after the injury occurred, and only then do we see what was wrong with the technique.
What about times you've had your own fluke injury. How often do we not know what happened? If you played sports, how often is your memory of a play or a match different from what actually happened? But what if we could watch ourselves beforehand?
I remember getting imaging for a muscular issue, and they accidentally found a tumor in the scan. It turned out to be benign, but the doctors wouldn't have found that unless they were imaging me in the first place. Recording yourself is like that—a routine scan to see if everything looks as it should.
I do routine recordings of practice sessions to study practitioner progress and needs, and I caught a risky behavior before it led to serious injury. The way a practitioner kicked was putting a lot of sheering force on their hip. It was hard to catch in real-time, but with a recording, if something feels off, I can stop, rewind, and slow down. The practitioner said he was already developing pain in his hip, so we caught it just in time. If this wasn't recorded, it might have been too late by the time we noticed.
However, tape study isn't just about injury prevention. It can also reveal bad habits and tells (things you do to give your intentions away). Videos can also be shared with people you trust for feedback.
Recording yourself is a handy tool, not only for improvement but also safety.
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